James G. Watt

James Gaius Watt (31 January 1938-) was the US Secretary of the Interior from 23 January 1981 to 8 November 1983, succeeding Cecil Andrus and preceding William P. Clark Jr..

Biography
James Gaius Watt was born in Lusk, Wyoming in 1938, and his first political job was serving as a political aide to US Senator Milward L. Simpson. A lifelong Republican, he served in several political aide and White House staff roles before becoming Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Interior in January 1981. He was known to be hostile to environmentalism, endorsed development of federal lands by foresting and ranching, resisted accepting donation of private land to be used for conservation, and was hostile to rock music; in 1983, he banned The Beach Boys from performing at Independence Day concerts in Washington DC, accusing them of promoting drug use and alcoholism; he instead had Wayne Newton perform. Newton was booed, and Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan apologized, as they were Beach Boys fans. In September 1983, he mocked affirmative action by saying "I have a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple. And we have talent.", leading to his resignation as Interior Secretary within three weeks. In 1993, he was indicted on 25 counts of felony perjury and obstruction of justice after lying about influence peddling within the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and he was sentenced to five years' probation, a fine of $5,000, and 500 hours of community service.